fully
examining mine. I wished to find there signs of a love equal to yours; I
have sought for them in vain. I love you enough to give you my blood and
my happiness, my entire life. I have always loved you thus--loved you
with that sisterly devotion that is capable of any sacrifice. But is
this the love you feel? Is this the love you would bestow upon me? No;
and, as you see, my heart has remained obstinately closed against the
passion which I have inspired in you, and it would ever remain closed
even if I consented to unite myself with you more closely by the bonds
of marriage. If I was weak enough to listen to you and to yield to your
wishes, I should only bring misery upon both of us."

"Alas!" murmured Philip, "I cannot understand this."

"How can I forget that for eighteen long years I have regarded you as a
brother?" said Dolores, vainly endeavoring to console him. "Moreover,
such a marriage would be impossible! Would it not be contrary to the
wishes of your father? Would it not detract from the glory of the name
you bear?"

"And what do the glory of my name and the wishes of my father matter to
me?" exclaimed Philip, impetuously. "Was I brought into the world to be
made a victim to such absurd prejudices? For four years I have lived
upon this hope. It has been destroyed to-day. What have I to look
forward to now? There is nothing to bind me to life, for, if your
decision is irrevocable, I shall never be consoled."

"Do not forget those who love you."

"Those who love me! Where are they? I seek for them in vain. Do you mean
my father, who has reared me with a view to the gratification of his own
selfish ambition? Is it you, Dolores, who seem to take pleasure in my
sufferings? My mother, the only human being who would have understood,
sustained and consoled me, she is no longer here to plead my cause."

Wild with grief and despair, he was about to continue his reproaches,
but Dolores, whose powers of endurance were nearly exhausted, summoned
all her courage and said coldly, almost sternly:

"You forget yourself, Philip! You are ungrateful to your father and to
me; but even if you doubt our affection, can you say the same of
Antoinette?"

"Antoinette!"

"She loves you with the tenderest, most devoted affection. She has said
as much to me, and now that you know it, will you still try to convince
yourself that there are only unfeeling hearts around you?"

Philip, astonished by this revelation, became sudde